Gisella and the City of Fire and Ashes

Chapter 1

"Well that's a wrap up for today everyone. You may be dismissed," I said.

I teach at a pretty big school in Toronto and I live in a small apartment. What I love most about my life is my students who are wonderful and getting the chance to write novels at home.

Maybe you should know a bit more about me. My name is Gisella and I'm twenty-five years old. I'm a grade twelve teacher and my favourite subject is creative writing. See, back then what I really wanted was to be a writer.

Now I'm going to tell you a true story about what happened to me even though it sounds pretty unbelievable.

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It was winter when this happened to me.

The snow was falling and I walked home feeling sad that I would have nothing to do over the winter break because I have no family to hang out with. My mom lives all the way in Australia. We don't get along very well. My dad and I used to be really close but then he passed away when I was young.

All I could hear around me as I walked was people chatting as the cars went by. I snuggled into my pink scarf and yellow hat for warmth.

Like I said, my apartment is quite small. I have a small kitchen, a small living room, a small bathroom and a small bedroom. My favourite thing about the apartment, though, is that it has a small fireplace. It makes the whole room smell like burnt marshmallows. In the evening I like to sit on my couch with a bowl of popcorn and watch old movies until I fall asleep.

I put on my blue pyjamas. I was just starting to make the popcorn when the phone rang. This was a bit strange because I don't get very many calls.

"Hello, this is Gisella," I said when I picked up.

It was my mother.

"Hiiiii, Gisella," my mother screeched.

"Hi, mom," I sighed. I was worried she was going to say something mean to me. She always does that!

Today was my birthday. I was feeling especially sad.

"It's your birthday. You're older. Soon you're going to go to Hell!"

"I don't care about you, Mom," I told her and then I hung up.

Now I was feeling extra sad and angry. I tried to forget about it and get back to making popcorn. I started to melt the butter to add in. It smelled salty and delicious.

When I sat down to watch the movie I just couldn't stop thinking about all my birthday before when my mother would say something that was horribly, horribly mean.

I was watching Mega-Mind. I thought of the villain being just like my mother and I was Roxanne, the victim.

I never feel it when I go to sleep. But soon I was snoring.

This is the nightmare I had.

There were a thousand versions of my mom all around me saying, "You're bad! You're bad! You're bad!"

"Stop! Stop!" I yelled, shaking my head. I tried to run away but then I fell through a void into nothingness.